Sometimes, you just get bored. Sometimes it happens when you’re forced, by dint of an iron-clad social convention and a pronounced lack of anything else to talk about, to ask about your co-workers’ Memorial Day plans for the umpteenth time, and sometimes it happens when you suddenly find that you’ve written the same piece for your Baseball Site one […]
Tag: Ben Zobrist
The Only Direction Ben Zobrist Sees is Up
Is that blistering heat coming from Ben Zobrist’s bat or the imposing collection of candles atop his birthday cake? This week, it’s definitely both. He is officially thirty-five, and in the abbreviated life span of a professional athlete, he has supposedly arrived at the waning. Well beyond his commonly understood peak, Zobrist has just transitioned, in […]
Game 45 Recap: Cubs 9 Cardinals 8
In a divisional rivalry that has been rife with intrigue, particularly since last fall, the last game of this week’s series was bound not to go out with a whimper. This afternoon’s dogfight between the Cubs and Cardinals looked a lot more like what we might expect between these two teams later in the season. Not […]
Is Ben Zobrist Superman?
No. (He doesn’t wear glasses.) But, I must say, Ben Zobrist is a pretty awesome dude. Going into the Winter Meetings this past December, I wanted nothing more than for the rumors of Zobrist’s possible signing with the Cubs to become a reality—even more so than I wanted the Jason Heyward rumors to come true (which for […]
Tales of a Baserunning Ballclub: Cubs Running Wild
Late in Sunday’s 13-inning affair, overshadowed by Javy Baez’s walk-off fireworks, the Nationals’ defense succeeded in throwing out Jason Heyward at home plate. Michael Taylor corralled the ball perfectly on one hop in right-center field and fired a throw to the cutoff man; the cutoff man, Danny Espinosa, flung the ball to catcher Wilson Ramos, […]
Zobrist, Baez, and Beyond: Turning Versatility into Opportunity
As we inch closer and closer to the Cubs breaking camp, there’s a quiet development happening in Mesa, nearly as quiet as the mime who led team warm-ups on Tuesday. According to ESPN’s Doug Glanville, Cubs bench coach Dave Martinez has been fielding a certain request from a number of young players: “Teach me another position.” […]
For the Chicago Cubs, Maybe Ben Zobrist Should Bat Ninth
In ‘Batting (Dis)Order,’ the chapter of The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball that deals with optimizing lineups, the authors hit the nail on the head in the introduction: “To understand the impact of your possible choices,” they write, “you have to understand the environment in which you are working. Context.” That’s true, of course, and it’s […]
Cubs Thrive On Basepaths Without Base-Stealing Specialists
Let’s get straight to the point: here’s a look at some stolen base numbers from last season. Feast your eyes! Team Stolen Base Ranking (Win Ranking) Team Stolen Base Leader(s) MLB Ranking 1 (29) Cincinnati Reds Billy Hamilton 2 2 (18) Arizona Diamondbacks A.J. Pollock 4 3 (10) Houston Astros Jose Altuve 5 4 (24) Miami Marlins […]
And Leading Off For the Chicago Cubs Is…
Leading off to hit in a baseball game is an under-appreciated art form. There’s many nuances about it that even your standard formulas might not catch. With the additions of Ben Zobrist and Jason Heyward to the Cubs’ roster, picking a leadoff man just got complicated on the North Side. What the Cubs need from their leadoff […]
How Far Can You Actually Take That Pesky Washington Nationals Comparison?
Good news, Cub fans! After a breakout 2015, in which the team won 97 games, hired a new, exciting manager and called up most of their top prospects (all of whom, of course, excelled once in the big leagues), Chicago has just gone and had the best offseason of any major league team! They signed Ben Zobrist […]